Powersports financiers are looking to supplement traditional FICO scores with alternative credit data for faster underwriting and more thorough snapshots of consumers’ ability to repay.
Horsepower Financial Services, which specializes in leasing motorcycles, off-road vehicles and side-by-sides, sees alternative data underwriting as a tool help consumers complete their purchase, President and Chief Executive Chris Garrido said last week at Powersports Finance Summit 2026 in Atlanta.
“We do not qualify with [FICO] score, but we have about 300 data points that we use,” Garrido said, adding that Horsepower approves about 40% of what highest credit tier lenders will want.
At the core of that alternative evaluation is detailed data. Horsepower relies heavily on cash flow information, Chief Financial Officer Laura Middendorf said at the summit.
“That’s our income verification,” she said.
Cash flow snapshots can be built by checking frequency of direct deposits into consumers’ bank accounts or incorporating a borrower’s secondary income streams — freelance or gig work, for example — that traditional credit files can miss.
Powersports lenders are experimenting with how alternative data points can be weighted.
“We’re always looking at putting new data in the system against a small subset of applicants [and] seeing how it performs,” Mike Bagull, vice president of partnerships and sales for RV and marine at Octane, said at the summit.
Octane is testing what data it can obtain from dealers that would help it make more educated underwriting decisions, Bagull said, noting that that is a practice in unsecured programs in consumer lending.
“I wouldn’t tell you we have anything there yet,” he said. “But that’s something that we are embarking on that’s not traditional data.”
AI speeds reviews
AI is useful for processing documentation that includes alternative credit data, Jon Krumdick, CEO of Ironhorse Funding, said at the summit.
“Whether it’s proof of income, proof of residence, bank statements, pay stubs, documentation the dealer provides, all of that will run through ocular recognition technology software to do a lot of the work,” Krumdick said.
AI doesn’t do everything, but for Ironhorse, it pinpoints “where there is an abnormality in what’s expected,” he added. “Maybe the information or the document is not complete, or it’s the wrong document that the dealer uploaded.”
That allows processors to take on the role of exception handlers, he said, noting the company can review “four or five times” the amount of documentation than it could before.
Stay up to date with all the news from Powersports Finance Summit 2026 here.
